Summary
Juvenile Justice turns its attention to one of the core characters as a scandal develops.
This recap of Juvenile Justice season 1, episode 6 contains spoilers.
I neglected to mention this in my recap of the previous episode, but at the very end of it, Eun-seok was confronted by a man she obviously knows but doesn’t want to see. That’s where this episode picks up, as we learn that this man, whose identity still isn’t entirely clear, was contacted by Eun-seok’s doctor, who was trying to get in touch with her. He’s worried about Eun-seok, or so he claims — is she eating well, sleeping well, looking after herself? If she isn’t she might die, he cautions, though she claims to have already died five years prior, a fact he should be well aware of.
Nothing else is made of this in the episode, but I’m sure we’ll return to this thread since it’s inevitably related to why Eun-seok has such a bee in her bonnet about juvenile offenders.
Juvenile Justice season 1, episode 6 recap
Anyway, the matter at hand is Descartes. Kang is fuming with Sin-u, his son, for not revealing that he was part of the group that supposedly leaked exam questions at one of the district’s most influential schools. This is a major issue since the parents of the students in the Descartes group are all extremely important people. It’s all over the news. As it happens, the police were only at Kang’s door to ask some questions about a hit-and-run, but the cat is out of the bag regarding Sin-u now, and Kang finds himself in an impossible position.
And, to put things mildly, he doesn’t handle it well. With his transition to politics also all over the press, Kang becomes increasingly unstable, lashing out at Sin-u and his wife, not to mention his colleagues, drawing the attention of Eun-seok, especially given the timing. Eventually, his constant attacks on Sin-u compel the young man to throw himself under a car.
In the aftermath of this, it becomes clear that Kang has been neglectful as a parent at best, but arguably even abusive. He badgered Sin-u about his grades, attacked and berated him relentlessly, and basically left him with no alternative other than to overperform. And the easiest way to do that was through Descartes. This is a sentiment we see reflected when the trial begins, and the cutthroat nature of Korean higher education is detailed. So much of it is money over merit that students increasingly feel as if they have no options, no hope. The Descartes leaks gave them those things. They made a decision that the vast majority of people would have made in the same circumstances.
Through some investigation, Eun-seok learns that some students were involved who didn’t end up going to trial. It also seems as if it was the answers that were leaked, not the questions, which ultimately gave everything away when six top students gave the same wrong, totally unrelated answer to an easy question. This is also what leads Eun-seok to make the connection between Kang and Sin-u, although it’s hardly the deductive leap it’s treated as given Kang’s behavior, Sin-u’s name, and the fact his picture is both framed on Kang’s desk and in the student files. Nevertheless, though, she gets there in the end.
At the end of the episode, Eun-seok confronts Kang, who has already tried to withdraw from the political race and was told, flatly, that he couldn’t. The attempts he has already made to rig the case will now undoubtedly be under major scrutiny given Eun-seok insists he turns himself in. We’ve arrived at, I think, the most compelling cliff-hanger in the season thus far.
You can stream Juvenile Justice season 1, episode 6 exclusively on Netflix.
